7 FREE Design Software Options

Are you interested in trying your hand at home design?  Planning on building a home and want to customize it yourself?  Fortunately, there are many options available to you, and many of those are free and easy to use.  These 7 free design software options are great ways to play with different home and remodeling designs to visualize what you would like.  Having these images really can help a contractor know exactly what you want.

All images are from the programs' websites.

Google SketchUp

Google SketchUp

This program is created by Google, and is very easy to use, and a great way to get into 3D modeling. There are a few licenses you can use with this product, whether for business use, personal use, or educational use in schools.

DesignWorkshop Lite

DesignWorkshop Lite

A simple version of DesignWorkshop, this program is another easy to use and simple way to play with production design, interior design, and landscaping for both the contractor and the homeowner as well. This program allows you to not only build your models, but walk through them as well to get a feel of the home.

Edificius

Edificius

This design software is not just a CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, but it has many things that other, higher end modeling programs have, including integration with SketchUp, printing, and hundreds of free video tutorials.

SmartDraw

SmartDraw

This program isn’t necessarily a modeling program, but it’s still a great way to lay out floor plans and landscaping options.

Sweet Home 3D

Sweet Home 3D

This program is very similar to SketchUp, and it extremely easy to use. You can work in 2D and 3D at the same time, and in addition to floor plan design you can also design the interiors as well, and place furniture and even cars into your home.

Blender 3D

Blender 3D

This program is not specifically for architectural design, but it is a complete software package for 3D modeling and design. It is completely free, and is also open-source, meaning there is a plugin or tool to download that can do anything you would ever want. Blender has been used in many commercial products, such as video games, movies, and short films.

Do you know of any other free design software that can be used to design homes?  Let us know!